AMERICAN INDUSTRIES SINCE COLUMBUS. 305 



The Evolution of Weaving. 



The earlier improvements in spinning machinery which have 

 been described, preceded, in point of time, the development of the 

 loom, and thus made more conspicuous the primitive methods of 

 weaving that continued in vogue, and became a stimulus to in- 

 ventors in this field. Arkwright's machinery was even regarded 

 as an evil, for a time, on the theory that it enabled England to 

 spin more yarn than her weavers could fabricate, and the surplus, 

 exported to the Continent, could there be woven into cloth so 

 cheaply as to seriously injure English trade. 



The strict chronological order of the initiative steps in the de- 

 velopment of woolen machinery would have headed the list of the 

 noble army of inventors with the name of John Kay. Kay had 

 the management of a woolen factory at Colchester, England, 

 belonging to his father. Having a sort of universal genius for 

 mechanical invention, he introduced various improvements in 

 dressing, batting, and carding machinery, as well as in the Dutch 

 drawboy and inkle looms, that had been brought from abroad by 

 his father. He also invented an improvement in reeds for looms, 

 by making the dents of their polished blades of metal, instead of 

 cane (the only materials used up to that time), by which they 

 were not only rendered more durable, but adapted to the weaving 

 of fabrics of a finer, stronger, and more even texture than cane 

 reeds could produce. Kay secured patents for several of these 

 improvements, which were universally adopted. But his crown- 

 ing invention was the first fly-shuttle known to man, patented 

 May 26, 1733. Hitherto the shuttle had been thrown back and 

 forth between the warp threads, being thrown by one hand and 

 caught by the other alternately, while each weft thread was driven 

 home by the " layer/' propelled by the hand which had just cast 

 the shuttle. In broadcloths, the process differed in this, that a 

 weaver stood upon either side of the work, and the shuttle was 

 thrown alternately from one to the other. Thus for more than 

 five thousand years, by millions of skilled workmen, one genera- 

 tion following in the exact footsteps of another, had the clothing 

 of the people been woven, with little attempt to expedite or to 

 simplify the process. Thus had been fabricated the mummy-cloth 

 of Egypt, the " woolen wind " or fibrous muslins of the Indias, the 

 rich tapestries of the Greeks and Romans, and every other fabric 

 of every character and age. 



John Kay's invention consisted of a race-board fixed to the 

 " layer " under the warp, with a shuttle-box at each end, a spindle 

 and picker in each box, and a cord passing from each picker to a 

 short lever held in the weaver's right hand. These improvements 

 did not dispense with the weaver's hands and feet in forming the 

 vol. xxxix. 22 



